Assassin's Ghost
by Kiba'sShadow
Summary: For once Mai isn't battling the non-living. Mai, a sixteen year old orphan has really managed to get herself in trouble now. After the death of her blacksmith father she's finding herself in the mist of becoming a fully trained assassin under the famous Takigawa while balancing a nobleman who'd rather look in a mirror than acknowledge her. And that's just the beginning...
1. Chapter 1: Meetings

**A/N: Okay so this is my first finfiction...ever. Anyways I know right now Mai and Takigawa seem a little OOC, but just give the story some time and I promise I'll try to get them back into character! I'd love some reviews telling me how my story is and what I need to fix or change. I don't have a beta right now so I've been doing all the editing. I'm super sorry if there's any mistakes! I really have tried my best. Anyways Rate and Review and please no flames! **

Mai watched in slight awe as the iron gates with the ornate leaf design opened of their own accord, as if an invisible hand was pushing them along. The grass smelt freshly cut, and was immaculate; drops of dew were clinging to the blades of grass like little encrusted jewels. All around her was a garden made from flowers and plants that looked like the belonged in a travel brochure instead of this garden. A fountain gurgled merrily before her, water spraying from the always smiling cherubs' jars and pots.

Slowly and carefully Mai stepped onto the stone path that lead to the front entrance of the house. For a moment her body refused to move as the reality of what she was about to do sunk in. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her small frame, as if to protect herself from an unseen danger.

"Can I help you?" a soft, almost musical voice called from the other side of the garden. A young man probably five or six years older than she was poked his head up from where he'd been laying down. The man had light brown hair that was tied into a pony tail and brown eyes that shined as he jogged over to Mai. He wasn't necessary muscular but he wasn't out of shape either.

"A-are you Houshou Takigawa?" Mai asked, cursing herself slightly for stuttering. Instead of facing the man head on Mai opted to simply tug the cap on her head over brown eyes, hoping the man hadn't heard her stuttered.

"I am." The man said and I could almost hear the smile in his words. "Although most people prefer to call me Monk."

Mai took a deep, calming breathe before looking the man right in the eyes. "I wish to become your apprentice." She stated, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.

Houshou Takigawa's eyes widened slightly as the realization of what the young girl just said sunk in. "You're a girl." He said finally as if she wasn't aware of her own gender. Although Mai was also slightly annoyed at how easily he'd seen through her disguise. Mai once again cursed herself for not paying more attention to her outfit before looking back up at the man.

"I know that." She grumbled with an annoyed sigh. "But I need a teacher, and you're the best one in the country."

Takigawa's eyes glanced around the garden quickly, ensuring that no one was within ear shot. "I don't think you understand, it's against the law to teach a girl any of my trades."

He said girl with distain clearly in his voice, almost as if the word girl was a bad word. Mai resisted the urge to roll her eyes, since she doubted he would appreciate that and at the moment Mai really needed him to like her.

"Please." She said, tugging her hat down slightly. "I-I don't have many options at the moment. I know the risk to both our lives would be great, but I've got no other place to turn too."

"Do you even realize what you're trying to sign up for?" Takigawa spat. "I don't teach art girl."

"I'm well aware of what you teach." Mai replied softly. "I know being an artist is only a cover up."

"And you really want to become an assassin?" he said the last word softly, so that no one could hear them. Not like there were any people in the garden, but Mai supposed in his line of business it never hurt to be too careful.

Mai gave on short nod. "I'm quite skilled in weapons; I almost never miss my mark. Last time I was tested for accuracy I got a ninety-eight percent."

This bit of information seemed to pipe his interest slightly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small throwing knife. "Can you hit any target I tell you too?"

"Yes sir." She replied, reaching for the throwing knife, which he handed over easily.

"See that tree over there?" Takigawa asked, pointing to an old oak tree that looked out of place among the beautiful garden. Although from the scars on its trunk Mai had a feeling it had been planted there for practice, rather than beauty.

"Anywhere on the tree?" Mai asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Dead center." He replied.

Mai nodded, testing the blade in her hand for a few seconds. It was slightly heavier than any of the knives her father had made for her. But if she adjusted the amount of force she used to throw it she was fairly certain it wouldn't cause a problem. The wind was blowing slightly to the east, but because of the weight of this knife she knew it wouldn't affect it enough to cause concern. With a small sigh Mai placed the blade between her thumb and index finger. With a quick flick of the wrist she sent the blade sailing through the air, hitting the mark Takigawa had asked her to with ease.

Takigawa looked slightly impressed for about half a second before beckoning Mai to follow him. "We need to work on your disguise. While the one you are wearing will fool people at first glance it won't fool them if they take two seconds to look at you. We need to find baggier clothes. The ones you wear are far too form-fitting, which shows your figure and your figure is not one of a man. As for your face it isn't too feminine but you don't exactly look like a guy either. You're a pretty girl, which makes this slightly difficult. Hopefully with a proper outfit people will just believe you are a baby-faced male. Your voice isn't as deep as a man's should be, but it's enough to get by so don't bother trying to change it. How old are you?"

"Sixteen." Mai replied, practically jogging to keep up with him. "I just turned sixteen this past July."

Takigawa paused, clearly not expecting the age the young girl had given him. "You're still a minor? Where are your parents? Don't tell me you're doing all this to get out of some arranged marriage, because I assure you you'll be better off marrying some rich nobleman than becoming a cross-dressing assassin."

"I'm an orphan." Mai snapped in annoyance. "And don't call me a cross-dresser that sounds weird."

"What's your name?" Takigawa said, quickly jumping from one subject to another. Mai was actually having a fairly hard time keeping up with this man.

"Mai." I mumbled, glancing away. She knew it sounded too feminine, but she hadn't exactly had time to come up with another name.

"You have to change it." Takigawa informed her with a sigh. "We might as well think of a name now, have you got any ideas? You need to pick a name that's easy for you to remember, we can't have you calling yourself Aaron one moment and Mai the next."

"I hadn't thought of it." Mai admitted with a small sigh.

"Of course not." Takigawa said in annoyance. "Gray, your name will be Gray."

"That's kind of an odd name." Mai pointed out to him. "What parent would name their child after a color?"

"I came up with that name based on what you are wearing at the moment." Takigawa answered. "Since someone didn't think of a name before coming here I had to think quickly. Besides I'm sure Gray will be an easy enough name for you to remember. And plenty of parents name their children odd names. It'll be fine."

"I still think it's weird." Mai said, smiling at Takigawa when he sent her a sharp glare.

"Now moving on, I'm guessing you'll need a room here to live in. I'm sure you don't have the money to pay room and board, so I'll give you chores to do around the house in order to pay for you meals and room." Takigawa said, once again jumping to another subject.

Mai's head was starting to ache, partly because this guy couldn't stay on one subject for more than a few minutes but mostly because the journey here had been long and without much sleep. But at least she knew tonight she'd have a bed to sleep in. It was a drastic improvement from the park benches she'd been calling home for the past week.

"Are you listening?" Takigawa snapped, causing Mai to jump.

"N-no, sorry." Mai mumbled, casting my glance to the floor.

"As I was saying," Takigawa continued, deciding not to scold the girl although Mai was sure he wanted to. "Try to keep interactions with my wife to a minimum. While she's not a genius she's far from being an idiot. And if she figured out you were a female she'd know I'd figured it out long ago. But she doesn't normally interact with my students, so I don't see that being a big deal. I'm not worried about her maids either, they prefer to keep their distance from my students as well and they won't come into our side of the grounds unless ordered to do so by me. My only true concern at the moment are my other apprentices. The beginners and the intermediate students probably won't notice anything but I don't think my advance students will be fooled so easily."

"How many advance students do you have?" Mai questioned.

"Three at the moment and only two of them stays on the grounds. However Yasuhara is very perceptive and isn't known for his kind heart." Takigawa sighed. "If your skill wasn't so great I wouldn't even think about doing this, but with proper training you could probably surpass any of my past or current students. You could probably go to par with me in a matter of years."

"Good to know you aren't doing this out of the kindness of your heart." Mai grumbled, following him into an older looking building that was tucked away behind the huge house. "Where are we?"

"You need to start paying attention to your surroundings." Takigawa sighed, using a key to unlock another door within the building. He stepped aside, nodding her through.

Mai eyed him warily for a moment, before stepping through the door only to be greeted with mass amounts of clothes.

_Do people really have so much money they need a separate house for their clothes_? Mai wondered, glancing around the room.

"It's a storage room." Takigawa explained. "Very few of my apprentices come from families with money, and their clothing shows that clearly."

"Does it matter how people dress?" Mai questioned, annoyance edging its way into her voice.

"I don't care how they dress. However they need to look professional if they are going to get any costumers. Noblemen won't hire someone that looks like they've been living on the streets, even if they were one of the best assassins in the field." He glanced back at her. "Besides, I'd be grateful if I were you. Without these clothes you'd never pass as a man."

Takigawa spoke freely now as he shifted through various clothes, tossing out ones he liked before continuing his search. Obviously this wasn't a place anyone but him visited often, and therefore his guard was down a bit. Not completely, Mai noted when she saw his eyes dart over to her a few times. He still didn't trust her, but that was understandable since if she had the choice she wouldn't have trusted him either. However Mai didn't have that luxury, at the moment she was completely depended on him.

"Come here." He ordered, holding out a rather nice looking black shirt, although it appeared too large for Mai to wear.

_I'll probably end up looking like I'm wearing a dress. _Mai sighed to herself.

As if coming to the same conclusion Takigawa sighed and tucked it back away. "You're an awkward shape for a man." He admitted after a while. "It has to be baggy to hide your figure, however not too baggy or people would get suspicion. On top of that we've got to make sure you can move effectively in them as well. This is getting far more troublesome than I'd first thought. My wife would be able to dress you properly, but I'm not sure I can come up with a convincing story. Plus I'd rather not see her."

"You don't want to see your wife?" Mai asked, cocking my head to the side. "Why not?"

"Simply put, she's bothersome and slightly abusive." Takigawa sighed, finally settling on a smaller version of the black shirt. "We married far too young, I'd divorce her but if anyone caught wind that she had been married to an assassin she'd be killed. At least if she lives here I can protect her. No one is stupid enough to try to attack my estate when I've got at least three highly skilled apprentices in my estate at all times." He shifted his eyes over to Mai, offering Mai her first real smile from him. "Soon to be four highly skilled apprentices."

Mai grinned back at him, causing him to blush slightly before throwing a shirt and pants at her. "Go try those one."

"Aye, aye Master Takigawa." Mai said.

"Don't call me Master." Takigawa said. "It might give people the impression that you actually listen to me. And I thought I told you to call me Monk."

"How can you say that when we haven't trained together once?" Mai argued, resisting the urge to place her hands on my hip. If she did that he'd lose all faith he had in her of keeping her secret. "And you never _told _me to call you Monk. You only said that people _normally _call you Monk."

"It's not in your nature." Takigawa replied simply. "Step one of becoming an assassin is learning how to read people." Takigawa paused for a moment. "And from now on call me Monk."

Mai opened my mouth to protest, but he was right. Even when she was a child she'd always found it difficult to listen to her parents, no matter what the reproductions might be.

"Fine, then I'll call you Chief." Mai grinned, spinning on her heel without another word.

A heard a heavy sigh from behind her. "Go to the back of the building and you'll find a door. Use that room to change." He called. "And for the last time it's Monk."


	2. Chapter 2: Details

**A/N: This chapter isn't much, but since I won't be able to upload over the week (Dang school) I decided to post one more before the weekend ended. My brother agreed to help with this story (yay, that means I might finish it!) and has also helped to edit it a little.**

**On another note my brother and I agreed that as long as we get one new review/follow a chapter then we will keep working hard on this story and try to update at ****_least_**** twice a month. All we really need is know that at one person enjoys reading Assassin's Ghost. That's not too much to ask, right?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt! Actually I don't own much, I don't even really own my dog since my mom is the one that bought him and pays his vet bills. Slightly depressing if you think about it. Now on with the story. **

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"The next step is finding a room for you." Takigawa sighed as Mai stepped out of back room in her new clothes. "I have a building that is used mostly for housing my students, and currently only two of my students are staying there. Both are housed on the bottom floor, so I could house you on the top."

"Why are you so concerned about what room to give me?" Mai asked, rolling up her overly baggy sleeves. "As long as no one walks in on me while I'm changing then I'll be fine."

"There are only two bathrooms in that building." Takigawa explained. "The students I have right now use the lower one, I figured if I put you on the upper floor then you'd have your own bathroom. The last thing I need is for Yasuhara to figure out about you being a girl."

Mai pondered the thought for a while, before deciding that Takigawa was probably right. Sharing a bathroom with two boys would be risky, and Mai needed to play it as safe as possible. "Hey, you said there were two people staying in that building, but you've only mentioned Yasuhara."

"John is far too trusting and good natured to suspect anything about anyone." Takigawa replied, a frown setting across his face. "He's determined to be an assassin for reasons I can't explain, and he's a hard worker, one of my best students. However I sometimes fear that he's too soft-hearted to make a career out of this."

Mai cocked her head to the side, trying to image Yasuhara and the John might look like. After coming up blank on both of them she briefly wondered how Takigawa would describe her.

_My students? Oh yes, I've got the heartless Yasuhara, the kind-hearted John and of course the cross-dressing Mai, I mean Gray. _Mai imagined Takigawa saying something like that, which caused her to go into a fit of giggled.

"Gray." Takigawa's voice brought her back from her rather funny imagination. "Do I want to know what you were thinking?"

"I was just thinking how you'd describe your students." Mai said, suppressing another fit of giggles.

Takigawa raised his eyebrows slightly. "Why would I be describing my _art _students?"

Mai pouted slightly. "It was a joke Chie-erm-Monk."

Takigawa shook his head, wondering if taking this girl on as an apprentice was really a good idea. Sure, the girl had natural talent, natural talent that probably surpassed his top student. But at the end of the day she was still a girl, and now that she was relaxing around him she was really started to act like one.

"Monk?" Mai asked, bending her neck slightly so that she could look at him. "Are you okay? Your face got really tight for a second."

"Fine." Monk replied, waving off his newest apprentice. He'd already agreed to take her on; he couldn't just change his mind. So for now, he resigned himself. He was stuck with Mai.

Mai beamed up at him. "Do you have any tea here? I could make a pot of tea for us."

"Tea?" Monk suppressed a groan. "Gray, guys don't _offer _to make other men tea."

Mai's lips formed a small 'o' as she thought about all the times her father had invited his friends over. Monk was right, never once had her father offered to make them tea. It had always been either her mother offering or Mai offering.

"What if I'm just a really polite guy?" Mai defended, deciding that she didn't want to be wrong so early in her apprenticeship.

"Not even John offers to make other men tea." Monk said, amusement flickering in his eyes. "Perhaps you need a crash course in becoming a man?"

Mai opened her mouth to protest, only to realize that even if Takigawa was joking, he was still probably right. Her knowledge of men was rather limited; the only men she'd been around all her life had been her father and the boys that lived in her small hometown.

"I thought you might be able to get away with being a passive male, but the more I look at you the more I realize that it won't work." Takigawa mumbled, leaning against the wall with a small sigh. "We could overcompensate. Instead of making you passive we could make you overly aggressive."

"Aggressive?" Mai questioned, looking up at her mentor. "Like you want me to go punch someone?"

"Or throw a knife. That would probably work just as well." Takigawa replied. "Actually throwing a knife will probably be your best bet. You're smaller than both Yasuhara and John, and I'm willing to bet that your punch doesn't have much power behind it. But throwing a knife doesn't take that much strength. Just good aim."

"Throwing a knife at a highly skilled assassin just screams bad idea." Mai grumbled. "I'm going to end up dying before I ever learn anything."

"Throw the knife at Yasuhara." Takigawa told her.

"Isn't he the one you've been worried about?" Mai paled. "Shouldn't I throw it at the more passive of the two? You just said that I'm not strong enough to take either of them!"

Takigawa cocked his head towards his apprentice. "Yasuhara will be your biggest issue. He's our main information gather and he's skilled at what he does. The moment he sees you he'll know something isn't right with you. He probably won't jump to you being a girl right away, but if we don't stop his suspicion he'll figure it out within the week. This plan is to throw him off. He won't suspect that a girl would challenge him right away, girls just don't do that."

"Monk, that's insane! If I challenge him I'll lose! He's got far more skill than I have and he knows the estate better than I do." Mai protested.

"John will intervene way before you two start fighting." Takigawa answered, waving off Mai's worries easily. "Once John steps into the middle just sit back down, Yasuhara isn't the type to keep a fight going. He'll let it go."

Mai looked over at Takigawa unconvinced. His entire idea was based around the hope that John would step in before the situation escalated. It was a good plan in theory, but what if John didn't step in? What if Yasuhara decided he didn't want to just drop it? And if that happened it wasn't like Mai could just go sit down and pretend she didn't just throw a knife at Yasuhara. She'd have to fight him, and she'd probably lose. No, she'd definitely lose.

Takigawa watched in slight amusement as a range of emotions flickered across Mai's face. It was obvious that she doubted his plan. Takigawa eyed his young apprentice carefully, not only was this plan meant to make Mai appear more manlike this was also a test for her. Takigawa needed to ensure that Mai would always listen to his plan, even if it seemed like he was putting her life in danger. All of his students had taken a trust test as well, her test just happened to serve two purposes. Plus he couldn't think of a better test, after all he knew his students like the back of his hand. He knew how both John and Yasuhara would act, and he knew that Mai wasn't any real danger.

Mai let out a huff of air. "When do I have to meet them?"

Takigawa paused for a moment. "I believe both of them will return from their assignments tomorrow evening, so you'll probably meet them the following day. We'll spend tomorrow training one-on-one."

"Right." Mai said meekly. She was relieved that she at least had tomorrow before she had to meet Takigawa's two advanced students, and maybe with the one-on-one training Takigawa was going to give her tomorrow she'd be able to hold her own if Yasuhara decided that he wanted to fight.

"Ready to go to your room?" Takigawa smiled, nodding his young apprentice out of the old storage building. "You'd probably like to settle in. I'll give you the rest of today to adjust. Feel free to rest up in your room or explore the estate. I'll inform the maids of your arrival so that they don't bother you, and if you see my wife keep conversations with her brief."

"You already told me that." Mai reminded him, trying her best to smile despite the panic that was steadily rising.

Takigawa noted Mai's distressed even with the fact that she was trying to cover it up. "Don't worry." Takigawa said, resting his hand on the top of Mai's head.

Mai smiled up at Takigawa, nodding her head happily. For unexplainable reasons Mai felt herself calm down the moment Takigawa had reassured her.

"Off to your room then." Takigawa smiled.


	3. Chapter 3: Mornings

**A/N: Good news and bad news. The good news is chapter three is here! The bad news is this chapter is really boring. I know these past chapters haven't had a lot of action, but starting with chapter four things should be picking up a little bit. Please make sure to review! They really do inspire me to write, and since I don't have school this week I might be able to post a new chapter sooner.**

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Mai watched as the sun began to slowly brighten up the dull sky. She had been up for almost an hour now, listening to the soft sounds of nature going about its way. If she had to guess the time she'd assume it was around 6:00 a.m. She had never been an early bird, so she had naturally been surprised when she realized she had woken up before the sun had even begun to make its way into the sky. Mai sighed aloud and leaned back in her bed.

If she was being completely honest with herself she knew why she was up so early, she was nervous. Before leaving Mai for the night yesterday, Takigawa had given her a basic rundown of what today would be like. First she'd attend breakfast in the main house with Takigawa and his wife. Takigawa had mentioned that his students rarely ate in the main house with him, partly because Takigawa himself never ate in the house, but mostly because his students were training before the kitchen staff even prepared breakfast. Normally the head chief would make sure the students had something quick to eat waiting for them in the kitchen, but if he didn't have time then Takigawa's students would simply make themselves breakfast in the small kitchen that the dorm building had.

After that Takigawa would show her the chores she was expected to do before the end of the day. According to Takigawa he didn't care if she did them before or after training as long as they were done before the sun set. Once she got a brief overview of her chores she would then begin her one-on-one training with Takigawa. And that was what was making her so nervous.

Sure Takigawa had seemed impressed enough with her knife throwing skills yesterday, but what if he found that she wouldn't make a good assassin? What would happen to her if Takigawa decided he couldn't train her? Honestly this was her last option; if Takigawa were to turn her away she didn't know what she would do.

_Don't think like that. _Mai scolded herself. _All you have to do is prove to Monk how much potential you have. _

Mai's spirits brighten at that thought. As long as Takigawa found her trainable, then she wouldn't have to worry about getting kicked out. Besides, the entire point of coming here was to gain skills.

"Gray." Takigawa barked from somewhere outside her room.

Quickly Mai rolled out of bed, pulling on a gray hoodie before walking outside her room. At the bottom of the stairs Takigawa stood with his hands behind his head, a bored expression gracing his surprisingly handsome face.

"Sorry." Mai apologized, trying to smooth down her neck length brown hair. After a moment of trying to encourage her hair to stay down she finally gave up and shoved her cap over it.

"You look like you just rolled out of bed." Takigawa laughed, eyeing his apprentice. Her hoodie was wrinkled and the baggy pants she wore looked like they could fit someone twice her size. And even with the hat her hair still stood up from all angles. But despite that her brown eyes were bright and lively.

"I'm sorry." Mai apologized again. "I've been up I just didn't think about getting ready."

"You can get ready after breakfast." Takigawa said easily. "We might need to work on your nightwear. Your hoodie and pants work well for now, but when the nights start getting warmer it'll look odd if you're still wearing sweatpants and hoodies.

"Right." Mai agreed, tugging on her hoodie gently. "I probably look like a mess right now."

"You do." Takigawa assured her with a smile. "But it works. I don't think anyone would guess a girl would leave their room looking like how you do now."

"Thanks." Mai said, rolling her eyes.

"Ready?" Takigawa asked, finally pushing himself away from the wall.

"Lead the way." Mai replied.

"You'll meet my wife today." Takigawa sighed. "Hopefully she won't pay you any mind, but knowing my luck she'll start messing with you just to annoy me. Keep your replies to her polite and short."

Without another word Takigawa walked out of the dorm building, leaving a slightly dazed Mai to follow behind her mentor. May briefly wondered why Takigawa talked so lowly of his wife; surely he couldn't hate someone that he decided to marry.

_But then again, he did say they got married far too young. And he really doesn't seem that old. _Mai mused, glancing over at Takigawa as they continued their silent walk to the main house. _Even so, he does seem to still care about her a little bit. He won't divorce her because he doesn't want her to be unprotected. _

"Gray." Takigawa snapped, pulling Mai away from her thoughts. "Pay attention." He ordered nodding towards the house.

As they approached the mansion, Mai couldn't help but gaped as she took in its magnificence. Marble statues stood tall and mighty by the entrance and Mai couldn't seem to take her eyes from the brilliant details on them. Vines that would have seemed out of place anywhere else crawled up on the twin columns, giving the mansion an older feel to it.

"Gray." Takigawa said sternly, causing Mai to close her mouth promptly. With a small nod Takigawa ushered Mai up the marble stair case.

_Apparently being a top assassin pays well._ She noted as she stepping into the mansion.

Mai sucked in her breath as her eyes wandered around the room.

Everything looked opulent from the gleaming wooden floors covered in beautiful throw rugs to the sheer curtains billowing like mist on the wall. The furnishing appeared to be older and each piece seemed to tell its own. Mai guessed they had to be antiques. Mai's eyes continued looking around the room, finally settling on what looked like a hand carved rocking chair. The workmanship was obviously top rate and the details on the rocking chair took Mai's breathe away. Like most of the furniture in the room the rocking chair looked to be an antique, however unlike the rest of the room's furniture the rocking chair appeared like it had never been touched.

After a few more moments Mai shifted her eyes to the delicate settees that were placed in front of a gorgeous stone fireplace.

"Kitchen is this way." Takigawa said, his voice tight as he led his young apprentice away from the front room.

"Is that your new apprentice?" a voice called from behind them. Mai instantly turned around, only to see that Takigawa had turned around far before she had. "He's awfully young."

Mai's breath caught as a woman walked into the kitchen. The woman had amazing red hair that fell far past her shoulders, with lipstick that matched her hair applied tactfully to her lips. Her light brown eyes sparkled as she looked over Mai, only when she turned her gaze to Takigawa did her eyes harden.

_She seems so sad. _Mai thought as she watched the pair exchange a silent conversation, which only left Takigawa annoyed and the woman flustered.

"I'm Gray." Mai smiled, taking a small step forward and bowing. "It's truly a pleasure to meet you Lady Takigawa."

"Ayako please." The woman replied with a strained smile.

"Yes Lady Ayako." Mai grinned, hoping that she could at least ease the tense atmosphere.

That thought was quickly shut down though when Takigawa decided to plop himself in the chair furthest from Ayako. Mai glanced over at Ayako, only to see her let out a defeated sigh before neatly sitting herself down at the table. Mai shifted on her feet uncomfortably, trying to decide if she should sit next to her mentor or the obviously upset Ayako.

"Gray." Takigawa said, nodding to the sit next to him.

Mai gave him a grateful smile before sitting herself down rather clumsily.

"So," Ayako began, her voice strained once again. "Are you enjoying yourself here, Gray?"

"Yes ma'am." Mai replied politely, trying to keep Takigawa's advice in her mind.

"Have you started any training yet?" Ayako questioned.

Mai resisted the urge to look over at Takigawa.

_Does she know about him being assassin? _Mai wondered.

"Gray just arrived yesterday; we haven't had time to go to the art studio." Takigawa replied for her.

"Right." Ayako mumbled.

"Lady Ayako, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?" Mai questioned, just now taking note that unlike most women Ayako wore a suit.

"I'm a doctor at a local hospital." Ayako smiled.

"Really? I didn't know women could become doctors." Mai said, regretting her words the moment they left her mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that; I just meant that the jobs women can get here seem rather limited."

"Don't worry about it." Ayako laughed, waving off Mai's apology. "I actually wasn't born here; I got my doctorate in my home county. At first it was hard finding anyone that would allow a woman to preform even basic persecutes on them, but after my first few patients recommended me suddenly everyone forgot I was a woman."

"That's amazing." Mai mumbled in awe.

"So what about you Gray?" Ayako asked. "When did you decide you wanted to be an artist? You seem very young to already have your future planned."

Mai paused for a moment, trying to decide the correct way to answer the question. "My mother used to teach me when I was younger. It was one of the few subjects I enjoyed." Mai admitted, deciding telling a partial truth was better than a complete lie.

"How do your parents feel about you living here?" Ayako asked.

"Ayako." Takigawa hissed, shooting Mai a worried glance.

Mai shrugged off her mentor's glance and instead just smiled at Ayako. "My mother passed away when I was eight and my father passed away a few months ago. I don't have any relatives so I'm on my own." Mai explained.

"Gray." Ayako said softly, a flash of pity entering her brown eyes.

Mai held up her hands in front of her quickly. "It's not that big of a deal. I mean I'm sad that they aren't with me but I'm happy that my mother isn't alone anymore. It's nice that they have each other, and I'm almost an adult so it's not terrible."

"You're very mature for someone so young." Ayako noted. "Most people wouldn't handle the pain they've felt as well as you are."

"I don't mind the pain." Mai replied truthfully. "If I never felt pain, how would I know joy?"

Ayako nodded mutely but didn't get a chance to respond since at that moment a large man came into the room with two other men. Quickly and quietly food was placed in front of Mai, Takigawa, and Ayako.

"Eat fast." Takigawa ordered, cutting up a piece of his breakfast and popping it into his mouth. "We're running behind."

Mai spent the rest of the meal in complete silence, only mumbling a soft thank you to Ayako when her mentor ordered her out of the house.

"Your wife seems nice." Mai noted softly as she followed behind Takigawa.

"She's a wonderful actor, isn't she?" Takigawa said bitterly, clearly unwilling to talk anymore about Ayako.

Mai winced slightly from Takigawa's harsh tone. _I wonder what happened between them. _She wondered as she continued to follow Takigawa.

"John normally helps the kitchen staff and Yasuhara helps general maintenance around the estate. Normally I'd have you help Yasuhara with maintenance, however we recently had one of our barn hands quit so I'm putting you in charge of the stables." Takigawa sighed.

"Stables?" Mai paled, pausing mid-step. "Like with horses?"

"Yes Gray." Takigawa answered, raising his eyebrows slightly. "Do you have a problem with horses?"

"No." Mai squeaked.

"Gray." Takigawa prompted.

"It's nothing." Mai murmured.

"Really?" Takigawa questioned.

"Totally." Mai replied

"Liar." Takigawa chuckled.

Takigawa watched his young apprentice blush before turning away from him completely. This was certainly not something he had expected from his student, of all things to be afraid of she was afraid of horses. If it had been anyone else he would have continued to pester them until they admitted their fear, but seeing as how the young girl was already shifting uncomfortably behind him he decided not to push her.

"If you don't want to work with the horses directly you can just do water, hay, and clean stalls." Takigawa decided after a moment. "Although I promise none of my horses are dangerous."

"Anything that large is dangerous Monk." Mai pointed out. "So are we heading to the stables now?"

"No." Takigawa replied. "John has worked with the horses before, so I decided that he could teach you how to give hay, water, and muck out the stalls. It'll be a good bonding experience for you two."

"Bonding experience?" Mai inquired.

"I've decided to place you in my advanced class." Takigawa explained. "Your skills obviously surpass my beginning class and I'm sure you're more skilled than even my intermediate class. While I don't think you are quite on par with my advance class I do believe you will be able to catch up fairly quickly. However, since you are in my advance class that means your peers will be John and Yasuhara. You three will complete any and all assignments I assign you as a team. This also means that you three need to build up some type of relationship with each other, John and Yasuhara have been working with each other for a few months, but you'll be new to the team. I figured it will be easier for you to have a friendship with John first."

"That makes sense." Mai admitted. "So, if we aren't going to the barn, where are we going?"

"Training." Takigawa answered, nodding towards a nearby building.

Mai's eyes scanned the building carefully. Compared to the mansion it didn't look like much. Mai guessed it was probably one of the older buildings on the property from the chippings that many of the bricks sported. Vines covered a side door, making it pretty much unusable.

"No wonder the maids won't come over here." Mai mumbled, recalling an early conversation with Takigawa. "I wouldn't want to either, this place looks haunted."

"Maybe I should make my apprentices clean it up then." Takigawa replied dryly.

"Don't be so sensitive Chief." Mai grinned, walking slightly ahead of Takigawa. "I was simply making an observation."

Takigawa walked up next to Mai, giving her a slight nudge so that he could get to the door knob. Quickly he stuck a key into the keyhole before pushing the door open.

Mai's eyes widen slightly as she poked her head into the building. Once again Takigawa's wealth amazed her. He had managed to create a perfect studio, complete with an isle of different paints, shelves of different pencils, pens, and paintbrushes. Lined around the room in two rows were individual desks, each with its own easel leaning against it. Pushed up against the walls were various other cabinets that no doubt held even more art supplies.

"This is an elaborate cover up." Mai said, glancing back at Takigawa. "So where are we training?"

"For today? Right here." Takigawa replied, leaning up against one of the cabinets.

Confusion flickered across Mai's face as she glanced around the room once more. While it was definitely large for an art studio, she didn't see how they would go about practicing without destroying the place.

"Draw me a picture." Takigawa ordered, nodding towards the closest desk.

"A picture?" Mai repeated slowly.

"And color it. Add detail. When you're done I want to be able to sell that picture to a nobleman." Takigawa nodded.

"What about training?" Mai asked, cocking her head to the side.

"This is training." Takigawa stated.

Mai's face flushed. "No, I mean like training to be an assassin. That is why I came here after all."

"I realize that." Takigawa noted. "But before any of my students even touch a knife they are taught how to be an artist. Being an assassin is an extremely dangerous job, if someone were to figure out what I really taught here everyone on this estate would be killed. No questions asked. For that reason I've come up with the cover of being an artist and my students take on the role of being art students. At the end of the day if I were to put _any _of my students up next to a professional artist's students they would win. This cover not only protects our lives, it also protects the lives of every single person in this estate."

"I'm not sure how well I'm going to do with the art part." Mai admitted with a wince. "My mother did teach me a few things, and while I'm not awful it's not something I practiced."

"That's okay for now." Takigawa replied easily. "Your first drawing is just a starting place for me to begin. Just like throwing the knife gave me an idea on how to teach you as an assassin, this painting will give me an idea on how to teach you as an artist. However I do expect you to take both your artist training and your assassin training seriously. The pressure is on for you more than anyone else. I'm sure you understand that."

"Right." Mai said meekly. "I'm sure I'll be fine."


	4. Chapter 4: Sparring

**A/N: I know I said that I would try to post an extra chapter this week, but I've been insanely busy! (Okay so I spent the night at my best friend's house watching Ghost Hunt and playing Legend of Zelda). Anyways this chapter is a little longer so that should make up for it a little bit right? As always please review, because they make me happy and encourage me to write.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or the characters. All rights go to their respective owners. **

* * *

Mai glared at her canvas in annoyance. No matter how many times she attempted to paint her sketch it never seemed to turn out quite right. Takigawa had assured her yesterday that he didn't expect her picture to be perfect, but he did expect her to have a presentable piece, and the blob of orange, red, and yellow that was on her canvas didn't look presentable at all.

Originally Mai had planned to do a portrait of her mother, but after spending a few hours trying to sketch it out she realized that a portrait wasn't in her range of skills. Once the portrait was ruled out she thought maybe she could do some type of landscape painting, and that's how the blob of paint on her canvas was created.

"Gray, you're still in here?" Takigawa asked, walking into the room. "Did you go back to the dorm building at all last night?"

"Ye-no." Mai sighed, deciding that lying to the man in front of her would be pointless. "I'm having a hard time with this painting."

"Let me see it." Takigawa said, holding out his hand for the canvas.

Mai blushed as she handed it over, watching Takigawa carefully as his eyes scanned over the painting.

"It's not awful." Takigawa replied after a moment. "What type of paint have you been using?"

"Watercolors." Mai answered. "I wasn't really sure what the other paint types were, and I remembered my mother used to work with watercolors often."

"There's our problem." Takigawa grinned, setting the canvas back on her desk. "The thing with watercolors is that depending on how much water you mix with them they can leak. That's what's going on here; I think you've got the basics down as far as the color scheme goes. And the sketch itself looks pretty nice. Scarp this one and get a new canvas. This time try using tempera paint."

Mai nodded slowly, mentally taking notes of the few tips Takigawa had given her.

"Thank you." Mai sighed, gathering her canvas and quickly disposing of it in the nearby trash can.

"Let's take a break." Takigawa suggested. "I believe John and Yasuhara are due back within the hour."

The color in Mai's face drained. "An hour?" she squeaked, shooting Takigawa an alarmed look.

"Actually I think they'll be here in ten minutes." Takigawa admitted. "I figured I should let you work until they arrived, if I told you earlier you would have spent the rest of the time panicking, which would have been unproductive. Now clean up so we can welcome them back."

Mai nodded numbly as she replaced the paints and brushes back on the shelves she'd gotten them, moving as slowly as she could without drawing Takigawa's attention.

"You're delaying the inevitable." Takigawa informed his apprentice, clearly seeing through the act she was putting on.

Mai sent him a sharp glare; despite the fact that she knew her mentor was completely right. No matter how long she tried to hide in the studio, she was still going to have to meet John and Yasuhara. With a small defeated sigh she finished cleaning up her work station and walked over to Takigawa, gesturing for him to lead the way.

Takigawa briefly considered reassuring his student, but shot the idea down. It was probably best for her to work through her nerves by herself; he wouldn't always be around to lend a comforting hand. Plus, he was interested to see how his newest apprentice handled meeting his advanced students.

"There's a carriage." Mai noted, watching as two solid black Shire Draft horses marched up the stone path.

Mai bit her lip as the carriage drew closer. For the second time since she arrived at Takigawa's estate she wondered if she had made the correct decision coming here.

_Don't show them you're scared. _Mai reminded herself, shifting her body weight so that she was standing up straighter.

Takigawa watched in satisfaction as Mai straightened her body. A calm, almost bored expression settled across her previously anxious face. Takigawa was impressed at how quickly she could change from one emotion to another in a matter of seconds with such ease. It was something that even the most skilled assassin had trouble with.

_Someone must have taught her something prior to her coming here._ Takigawa concluded. _Even if she was naturally good at hiding emotions, the display she's showing right now could only come after months of practice. _

"We're home!" a young man beamed, barely waiting for the carriage to come to a complete stop before he jumped out. "Man, it's nice to be back!"

Mai eyed the young man warily. His black hair was neatly cut so that it just barely fell halfway down his forehead. His dark gray eyes were hidden slightly behind a pair of glasses. His build reminded her vaguely of Takigawa. He didn't appear to have a lot of muscle, but he didn't look out of shape at all either.

_He's an advanced student; of course he wouldn't be out of shape. _Mai reminded herself. _He doesn't look terribly unfriendly. The way Monk described him I half expected him to be a monster of some sort. With fangs for teeth and claws for hands. Unless this one is John, Monk did mention that John was the friendliest of his advanced students. _

"Yasuhara." Takigawa said, rising an eyebrow at the boy. "How did it go?"

"Oh it was wonderful!" Yasuhara grinned. "There's nothing more refreshing than a bunch of old ladies cooing over you. And to put a cherry on top of that lovely little cake we had an old man breathing down our shirts. Right John?"

Mai glanced back up at the carriage, watching as another young man stepped down from the carriage, a nervous smile spreading across his face. His wavy blonde hair stopped right before it could reach his light blue eyes. Compared to Yasuhara and Takigawa he was on the smaller side as far as height went. If Mai had to guess his age she'd put him around sixteen or seventeen. Not much older than herself.

"John Brown." The blonde said with a slight accent.

Mai hesitated for a few seconds before registering the fact that the blonde had his arm extended towards her.

"Gray T-Takagi." Mai covered quickly, grasping John's hand in a firm shake.

"Osamu Yasuhara." The black haired boy said, diverting his attention from Takigawa as his eyes scanned Mai over.

"John, Yasuhara this is Gray Takagi. He's my newest apprentice." Takigawa introduced formally, coming up behind Mai. "He'll be joining the advanced class so I expect you two to make him feel welcomed." Takigawa finished, sending a stern glare at Yasuhara.

"Advanced already?" Yasuhara grinned. "Even John and I started out in the intermediate class. You must have some serious skills if Monk decided to place you in the advanced class."

"We'll see." Takigawa said, stepping in-between Yasuhara and Mai. "How are you and John feeling?"

Mai noticed that Yasuhara's eyes brighten at Takigawa's question. Even John seemed excited for some reason.

"We feel great." Yasuhara answered.

"How about a little sparing then?" Takigawa said. "I'm sure you two could use a little activity."

Confusion flickered in Mai's eyes as she watched Yasuhara and John smiled at each other.

_Didn't they just get back from a mission? How could they possibly use a little activity? _She wondered, trailing behind the trio slowly.

"So how long have you been here?" John questioned noticing the girl trailing awkwardly behind them.

"Today's my third day." Mai replied. "When did you guys leave for your mission?"

"About three weeks ago." John answered with a smile. "We're both happy to be back. It lasted longer than we expected."

"So what are the missions like?" Mai inquired curiously.

"Ah, it wasn't an ordered hit or anything." John said, holding out his hands in front of him. A gesture Mai was familiar with since she seemed to do it a lot herself. "Actually it was an artist commission. Yasuhara and I were hired to paint a family portrait for a nobleman. We thought it would only last two weeks at the longest, but it turned out the nobleman had a very detailed vision."

"An artist commission?" Mai groaned.

John laughed slightly at the young man's protest. "Yes, Takigawa tells us it's important for us to go out on commissions in between being hired for a hit. It would look suspicious if we never did anything artistic."

"And Monk's all about a detailed cover up." Mai sighed, dropping her head slightly. "I haven't even finished my first painting."

"Don't worry." John assured the young man beside him. "Takigawa isn't expecting a master piece. The first drawing I ever did didn't even resemble what I was trying to draw. The first painting just gives him an idea of where you lack the necessary skills, once he figures that out he's a very efficient teacher. Before long you'll be going out on commissions with Yasuhara and me."

"Hurry up." Takigawa barked at his two lagging students.

Mai tried to hide her dismay when she realized they were heading back to the studio.

"I thought we were sparing." Mai mumbled.

John offered her another smile. "We are. Don't worry."

Mai looked over at the young man unconvinced, but decided not to argue it. She was starting to get the feeling that her version of sparring and their version of sparring were vastly different. When she heard the term sparring she always assumed it meant a friendly fighting session. At least that's how her father had always defined sparring to her mother. But these three apparently thought sparring meant going into an old building to paint pictures.

"Gray." Takigawa called, opening up the studio door and gesturing his students inside. "Now isn't the time for daydreaming."

In place of blushing Mai sent Takigawa an annoyed glance as she walked past him.

"Hey Monk do you have the key to the Pit?" Yasuhara called, fiddling with one of the paint shelves for a moment. "John and I left our keys back in our rooms."

"Don't break my door." Takigawa snapped, tossing a small silver key towards his student.

"Gotcha." Yasuhara winked, quickly shoving the key to the far back of the shelf.

Mai's eyebrows shot up when she heard a small click. Gently Yasuhara pushed the shelf to the side, revealing a long set of stairs.

"It surprised us at first as well." John smiled, watching as Mai tried to reel in her shock.

"Really I shouldn't be in shock that Monk came up with this." Mai said. "He seems to like going over the top with everything."

"Yeah." John agreed. "But it works. No one suspects us when we spend all day in the art studio, everyone just assumes we're painting so we get to train as much as we like."

Mai nodded in agreement before following Yasuhara down the stairs. Mai resisted the urge to let out a loud gasp when she finally made it to the bottom of the stairs. For the most part the secret basement was set up like the art studio, but instead of paint and brushes being pushed against the wall there were mass amounts of weapons hanging everywhere. Mai had a sinking suspicion that she could find any weapon she wanted in this room and then some. In the center of the room was a large arena where Mai guessed most of the training took place, although off to the side of the room where punching bags, weights, and other things a person could practice with individually.

"Yasuhara affectionately named this place the Pit." John said after a moment. "I believe his logic was we needed code words so we knew what we were doing for the day. So whenever we're going to paint we say we're going to the studio and when we're going to train we say we're going to the Pit. Simple enough."

"Doesn't Lady Ayako get suspicion that you refer to the studio as two different names?" Mai questioned.

"Not really." Takigawa piped in. "She thinks the names depend on how hard I've been working them."

"And it's a great way to decide how we're dressing for the day." Yasuhara said. "Obviously we can't dress too differently, but if we're training we do tend to put on lighter more flexible clothes."

"Mainly Yasuhara just likes to use code names." John smiled.

Mai smiled back at John. In the few minutes she'd spent with the blonde she already felt a connection with him. She could tell that he was a genuinely a kind-hearted person, something she wouldn't have expected from someone learning how to become an assassin.

Yasuhara seemed nice enough to Mai, but she knew to keep her guard up around him. Despite the smile he had plastered on his face, she could feel his eyes looking over her at every opportunity.

_He hasn't taken his eyes off of me once. _Mai realized as she scanned over the weapons. _Monk was right about him noticing something immediately. _

"Gray, come over here." Takigawa said. "I want you to observe Yasuhara and John sparring."

"Right." Mai replied, strolling over to Takigawa in what she hoped appeared to be a confident manner.

"John, Yasuhara." Takigawa ordered, nodding towards the arena.

John nodded quickly, reaching into his pocket to remove a small black book. Gently he placed the book on another one of the working desks.

"What's that?" Mai questioned, pointing to the book.

"Ah, it's a bible." John replied, gently rubbing his fingers over the leather cover. "I always keep one on me."

"John was a priest in a previous life." Yasuhara explained as he removed his glasses.

"Yasuhara you realize that John's religion doesn't believe in reincarnation, right?" Takigawa asked in amusement. "Therefore, there's no way he could be reincarnated."

"He was reincarnated because he was a priest." Yasuhara said. "See, you can only reach enlightenment once you've lived a righteous life."

"I don't think that's how you reach enlightenment." Takigawa said, rubbing the skin between his eyes.

"Well that part doesn't matter." Yasuhara brushed off. "Did you guys know the word reincarnation derives from Latin, literally meaning entering the flesh again?"

"So you learned the Latin meaning of reincarnation but you didn't bother learning how to reach enlightenment?" Takigawa questioned in disbelief.

"Since I don't believe in any religions things like enlightenment and Heaven don't mean much to me." Yasuhara pointed out. "However learning the Latin meaning of reincarnation is factual, it doesn't matter if I believe in enlightenment or not. It's simply information to retain."

"This is why he's our main informational gatherer." Takigawa explained to a confused Mai. "He retains everything he reads without a bias opinion. Plus, his skills for digging up things remain unmatched."

"You flatter me." Yasuhara grinned. "Hey John, toss me a weapon's pouch!"

John complied immediately, tossing Yasuhara a midnight blue pouch.

"So why do you carry a bible around?" Mai ventured, unsure how John would react to being asked.

Mai noticed that John hesitated a moment before turning to face her. "I guess it serves as a type of reminder for me. Even though I'm in this business, I don't want to lose myself."

"John we're all lost." Yasuhara smirked. "None of us will ever make it to enlightenment or Heaven or any other place like them if they exist. The best we can hope for is that none of it is true, and that when we die we'll just disappear."

"I don't think that's true. There's got to be something out there for us when we die that's better than just disappearing." John countered. "I'm going to continue believing in my God the same way you continue to believe in your research."

"Okay, I think that's enough talk of religion." Takigawa stepped in. "Are you two ready to spar?"

Mai was shocked to see both boys were now strapped with varies weapons as well as a vest that covered all their vital organs.

Yasuhara's eyes wandered over John, mentally taking in all the weapons he'd equipped himself with.

_Three knives on his right side. Two on his left. A standard weapon's pouch holds an additional five throwing knives. No swords. _Yasuhara knew he didn't have to worry about an attack just yet. John was doing the same thing he was. It was a skill drilled into them by Takigawa since their very first spar.

Satisfied with the information he drew a knife from his own weapon pouch. John mirrored Yasuhara's action, flipping it around so that the sharp side was facing him. Yasuhara couldn't help smirk, after a few months with training with John he'd finally realized that John was completely defensive. No matter how much Yasuhara tried to provoke John, he would never make the first move.

Yasuhara reached for another knife, wrapping his fingers around it and sending it flying towards John's heart. John knocked away the knife with ease, never once moving his feet from their spot.

Mai was completely dumbfounded. She had expected the fight to start the moment both men entered arena. Instead the pair had barely moved at all.

"He's testing him." Takigawa whispered to Mai. "They've been out of practice for a few weeks, so he wanted to see how John's reflexes were. As far as defense goes, John's got Yasuhara beat. However Yasuhara has him beat as far as strategy goes."

"Who normally wins?" Mai whispered back.

"It's a toss-up." Takigawa admitted. "Even with strategy Yasuhara can't always break through John's defense. However John's defense doesn't always counter Yasuhara's strategy. Stamina plays a major role in this. You can tell by John's stance that he's worn out from traveling, but Yasuhara looks completely fine. This match is Yasuhara's."

Mai wasn't sure how Takigawa came to that conclusion. From what she could tell John seemed perfectly fine.

"He's going to make a move now." Takigawa said, nodding back to the arena.

Once again Mai couldn't see how Takigawa had come to that conclusion. Neither one of the boys looked like they were about to strike, actually they didn't even look tense.

Almost as if he heard Takigawa, Yasuhara ran forward, slipping a blade out from his sleeve and aiming again for John's heart. John countered the attack quickly, parrying Yasuhara's strike to the right. From there the fight finally took life, with Yasuhara making various stabs at John and John easily deflecting them.

"Yasuhara is trying to wear John down." Takigawa noted proudly. "He's already discovered that John is fatigued from their travel."

In the moment it took for Mai to shift her eyes back from Takigawa, Yasuhara had already sent five knives towards John, each one aiming for different parts of his body. John knocked the first four out of the air with ease, but the fifth one was able to graze his cheek lightly.

John winced as blood spilled from the cut. Yasuhara took that opportunity to make another move against John, this time dropping low to slide his leg across the ground. John jumped out of the way, turning slightly to deal a counter blow. With practiced ease Yasuhara jumped out of the way.

"Nice one John." Yasuhara panted, straightening up. "But I call checkmate on this one."

"I disagree." John huffed, pulling out another knife so he had one in each hand.

In a flash Yasuhara was back in John's face, dealing several punches to John's stomach before moving out of range again.

John doubled over in pain, gasping slightly as he tried to regain his bearings. In that moment that Yasuhara slipped behind John, pressing a knife firmly against his neck. Blood tricked down from where blade met skin.

"Checkmate." Yasuhara grinned, slowly lowering the blade back to his side.

"Not one of your best fights." Takigawa scolded. "Even without training for three weeks I expect both of you to put up a better fight than that."

"Sorry." They mumbled together.

"We had a lot of sleepless nights." Yasuhara explained. "John had the worst of it, the client liked the way he detailed the clothes and decided that all the clothes were to be done by John. The only thing I really did was the background and faces."

"You helped mix paint as well." John replied good naturally. "It was a big help."

"Yeah, but I normally went to bed after I mixed your paint for the night." Yasuhara pointed out. Glancing back at Takigawa. "I'm sure we can both perform better with a little rest."

"John, go back to your room and rest up. Yasuhara I want you to spar with Gray." Takigawa ordered, leaving no room for argument.

"Good luck." John said, quickly dropping his weapons on the desk and placing his bible back into the safety of his pocket. "I'll see you guys for dinner."

"The chief has made a nice welcome home meal for you guys, so don't eat too much." Takigawa informed them. "Once the battle is over we'll go to the studio to paint for a few hours. I know you guys just got back but there are still a few smaller commissions we haven't finished."

"I'll go wash up then." John replied, giving Mai a final wave before hurrying out of the training room.

"Gray." Takigawa called, tossing a small pouch in the air.

Mai caught it easily, attaching it to her right thigh without much thought.

"This as well." Takigawa said, handing her a small vest.

Quickly Mai fastened the vest around her, glancing back up at Takigawa once she'd finished. With a small wave of his finger he signaled her into the arena.

Mai took a deep breath as she turned to face Yasuhara. His fight with John hadn't given a lot away as far as fighting styles went. And even though he had looked tired at the end of his fight with John, he looked fine now.

"Begin." Takigawa barked.

Mai wasted no time. Quickly she pulled out two knives, sending one at Yasuhara's heart and the other one at his left lung. Yasuhara knocked each one out of the air easily.

_He only blocks with his right hand. _Mai noticed. _I should be able to knock him over if I put more power behind my throws. _

Mai jumped back to put a few more feet in-between her and Yasuhara. Balancing on one foot she quickly spun around, drawing two more knives when her back was to Yasuhara and sending them flying when she faced him again. As predicated Yasuhara used his right hand to block both, leaving his left shoulder wide open.

_Gotcha! _Mai grinned, spinning around twice and propelling a knife into his shoulder. Or what would have been his shoulder if not for the protective vest he wore. Despite that Mai was delighted to see that the knife had managed to wedge in about an inch. _Time to finish this. _She thought, reaching into her pouch for knife that she would send into his heart.

Her fingers wrapped around nothing, causing her face to pale instantly. _I'm out of knives? _She questioned, using her index and thumb to push the pouch open wider. The empty pouch looked back at her mockingly. Yasuhara winced as he grabbed the handle of the knife, tugging it out of his vest with a sharp jerk and tossing it out of the arena in distaste.

Yasuhara took this moment to advance on the dazed student, pulling out his own knife and aiming it towards Mai's throat.

With a small curse Mai ducked out of Yasuhara's range, her eyes scanning the floor for an extra knife. She almost groaned when she realized that Yasuhara had thought about her picking her knives back up and had tactfully discarded all her knives outside of the arena.

With nothing to counter his attacks all Mai could do was avoid them. This kept up for a few minutes until Mai's foot slipped giving Yasuhara the chance to place a well-timed kick to her stomach.

Pain exploded from her gut, radiating all over body as she collapsed to her knee.

Yasuhara's foot slammed into Mai's side, sending her flying to the ground with a loud crack. Mai cursed again as she struggled back to her feet, her rib cage protesting the entire time. Mai had a sudden suspicion that several of her ribs were bruised, if not broken.

"Checkmate." Yasuhara spat, tossing his vest and weapons on his work desk before jogging up the stairs.

"Damn." Mai winced, gingerly undoing her vest.

"Never throw all your weapons and never lose count." Takigawa snapped.

Mai looked up at her mentor in disbelief. She'd just gotten beat to a nearly bloody pulp and _he _was scolding _her. _He'd been standing there the entire fight; didn't he think that he should call it off before Yasuhara kicked her side?

"You're lucky you were fighting Yasuhara this time. If we had been on a hit you'd be dead." With that Takigawa stormed up the stairs.

With a small huff Mai started gathering up her knives, a task made difficult by the protest of her ribs.

Thirty minutes later Mai found herself sitting on the floor of the Pit, looking at the five knives in front of her. Leaving them here meant she had to go back upstairs unarmed and potentially gave Yasuhara a chance to harm her further. While she didn't think Yasuhara was the type of person to harm another time after he had already proven his point, she wasn't exactly keen to test that theory.

_I'm not going unharmed. _Mai decided, shoving the knives into the weapon's pouch that was still fastened around her thigh. _But I can't walk around with this pouch in plain view. Maybe I can hide it underneath my hoodie._

Mai grimaced in pain as she wiggled out of her hoodie. Curiously Mai lifted up her shirt to reveal a large black and blue bruise that had started to form over her right ribcage.

_I might need to get that looked at. _Mai noted, pressing on the bruise gently. _Bad idea. _Mai gasped, pulling her fingers away from the bruise quickly.

Ignoring the throbbing pain that ensued by pressing the bruise Mai lengthened the strap on the weapon's pouch so that it fit snuggly around the lower part of her waist. She was thankful that the bruise she'd sustained during sparring sat further up so that the strap didn't touch it.

Painfully Mai managed to pull her hoodie back on.

_Time to go face the music. _Mai sighed, straightening out her hoodie. She really didn't feel like dealing with anyone. Between Yasuhara bruising her ribs and Takigawa yelling at her she wasn't feeling awfully fond of the people on this estate.

As she was about to head up the stairs, a small object caught her attention. Backing up her eyes found a smaller than usually dagger hanging from the wall.

Mai couldn't resist the urge to hold such an unusual weapon. Taking it from the wall she imagined that it was to be a silent killer type of dagger, one where a person could hide it affectively in their sleeves so that they could slit a victim's throat with ease.

Mai almost squealed in delight when she noticed a small dagger sheath that could be fastened to her wrist.

_Takigawa's got so many weapons I'm sure he won't miss this little thing. _Mai grinned, inserting the dagger into the sheath. Once the weapon was safely clipped onto her left forearm she finally made her way back up the stairs.

"Look who decided to finally join us." Yasuhara chirped from behind an easel and canvas. "We figured you decided to commit Seppuku."

"S-seppuku?" John questioned from his desk.

"Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment." Yasuhara explained. "Originally it was reserved only for samurais. Seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurais to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies and suffer torture, or it was used as a form of capital punishment for a samurai who had committed serious offenses. The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a tantō, into the abdomen and moving the blade from left to right in a slicing motion."

"That's sick." John winced.

"Death before dishonor my dear friend." Yasuhara grinned. "Hey Takigawa do we have a tantō in the Pit?"

"Probably." Takigawa's short reply came.

"Would you like me to get it for you?" Yasuhara inquired, glancing over at Mai with a smirk.

"Go to hell." Mai said between gritted teeth.

"Those are some big words coming from someone that can't even win a sparring match." Yasuhara retorted.

Instinctively Mai's right hand flew to her left forearm. Mai pulled out the small throwing dagger, with a slight flick of the wrist she sent it flying towards Yasuhara's head, nicking the canvas and barely messing his left ear. She even managed to take a few strands of hair off before the dagger landed with a solid thud into the wall.

"You aren't wearing a vest and I've got five knives left." Mai threatened, her arm dropping to her waist to prepare for the next attack.

Yasuhara's eyebrows flew up as he watched the person in front of him. _He's a completely different person now. _Yasuhara realized. _If we fight this time I might actually lose, and even if I do win I'm willing to bet that I won't walk away unscathed. _

"G-guys don't fight in the studio." John pleaded, jumping from his desk so that he stood in between Mai and Yasuhara. "You guys are even now."

Yasuhara held his hands up innocently. "Fair enough."

Mai turned on her heel and headed towards the door.

"Gray." Takigawa called. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to my room." Mai barked. "In case you've forgotten I've sustained an injury and I plan on placing ice on it _before_ it gets worse."

Takigawa watched as his newest student stormed out of the building.

"He's pissed." Yasuhara informed them.

Takigawa shook his head slowly. He should have known taking Mai on wouldn't be easy; things had never been easy for him. And Yasuhara hadn't helped either. Perhaps he should have stopped the fight after the first hit Yasuhara had gotten on her, but if he had done that then there was a good chance the two of them would have tried to settle things outside of sparring. Neither one of them seemed like the type to back down, and he really didn't want his estate to be caught in the crossfire of one very skilled assassin and another weapon crazed girl.

_I have no idea how to deal with girls. None whatsoever. _Takigawa thought, glancing at the ceiling. "Finish up whatever commission you two are working on and then get ready for dinner."

"Where are you going?" Yasuhara asked.

"Stroll." Takigawa answered, walking over to the all behind dinner and plucking the small dagger from the wall. _She got it wedged in there pretty well. _He noted, walking out of the building.

Takigawa walked with determination towards the main house, despite the fact that he didn't feel like he did anything wrong as far as not stopping the sparring match between Mai and Yasuhara, he knew that Mai had to be in some serious pain. And as her mentor it was his job to look after her.

"Takigawa." Ayako said in astonishment. "You're out of the studio early, is everything okay?"

"Do you have anything to help a bruised rib?" Takigawa asked shortly.

"Are you injured?" Concern flickered in her eyes as she glanced down at his side. "Maybe I should take a look? It could be broken. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between a bad bruise and a minor break."

"I'm _fine._" Takigawa snapped, cursing himself for his outburst when he saw the pain in Ayako's eyes.

"Right." Ayako smiled weakly, walking off into her bedroom for a moment before appearing with a small bag of plants. "Unfortunately bruised ribs have to heal by themselves since there's no way to prevent them from moving. But this plant numbs the body for a few hours; it'll help with pain if you have to be up. However the rib will heal quicker if you just lay in bed." She shoved the bag in his hands before disappearing into her room.

Takigawa rubbed the back of his head. It seemed as the days went by Ayako and him drifted further and further apart. There had been a time when they had truly been in love. When spending time with each other was a breath of fresh air and all they ever wanted to do was be around each other. Sure they had fought; they actually fought more often than most couples. There had been several incidents where Ayako had even hit him for saying stupid things. But their fights had always been in good humor, whenever he had called her an old lady or questioned her ability as a doctor it had been a joke. And she had known that and even played along.

The day he had asked her to marry him had been the happiest day in Takigawa's life. He stilled couldn't believe someone from a rich family, who had dozens of guys chasing after her had chosen him of all people. At the time he had still been an apprentice himself, doing the same things his apprentices were doing now. He had very little time to interact with people, let alone time to build a relationship. But Ayako had waited patiently; she had assured him that it was okay to focus on his work, because they would have plenty of time in the future together. If only he had known the amount of strain it would put on his relationship to hide being an assassin. Of course he should have realized that it would do this, hiding half of yourself from the person you loved was difficult.

But Takigawa didn't have time to worry about the status with his wife; he had too many other things on his plate at the moment. Takigawa shook his head as he made it to the dorm room, running up the stairs until he finally arrived at Mai's door. After giving the door a  
small knock he leaned back and waited.

"Coming." Mai's voice sounded right before the door opened with a hard yank.

Takigawa almost groaned when he saw Mai wearing nothing but her chest bindings and a tank top that didn't even come fully down her stomach.

"What would you have done if I were Yasuhara or John?" Takigawa said slowly, trying to keep his voice calm.

Mai placed her hands on her hip in a very feminine manor. "If you've come here to scold me some more I'm not in the mood. And as I stated before I was _icing _my ribs."

"You need to be more careful." Takigawa grumbled.

"What do you want _Takigawa_." Mai added extra emphasis on the last word. She was in a bad mood and didn't feel like putting up with anyone at the moment.

Deciding against saying another word Takigawa held out the bag he'd retrieved from Ayako only moments earlier.

"Plants?" Mai asked dumbfounded. "If this is some kind of weird apology I recommend getting roses or lilies or anything other than a bunch of dried up leaves."

"Herbal plants." Takigawa explained. "They'll numb your body so that you don't feel the pain in your ribs quite as bad. The pain won't completely go away, but it will at least make breathing easier."

Mai was actually surprised with the kind gesture Takigawa was showing her. _Maybe the real Takigawa was killed and an alien is wearing his skin for cover. _

"And next time listen to what I tell you." Takigawa hissed. "I believe I told you to throw a knife _near _Yasuhara, not _at_ him. What would have happened if you missed and hit his eye? Or if he has been so angered that he decided he wanted to fight again? Do you really thing you could have taken him on with a bruised rib?"

Takigawa didn't really believe anything he was saying would actually happen. He just didn't want Mai to get any ideas what he would come running up to her room with medicine every time she got hurt. He wasn't her father.

_No, it's still the same Takigawa. _Mai groaned. "You never told me where to throw the knife, you just told me to throw it. And unlike you I have complete faith in my aim. Besides you were the one that said John would stop the fight, which he did."

"Here." Takigawa said, handing over the small dagger she had thrown at Yasuhara. Getting into this discussion with Mai was proving to be rather pointless. "Keep this on your forearm at all times. But please don't walk around with that pouch around your waist; it only takes you moving the wrong way for someone to see it underneath your hoodie."

Mai nodded happily, pressing the blade to her chest. "Aye, aye Chief!" she chirped.

_She's actually happier about the dagger than the medicine. Is that normal? _Takigawa questioned silently, watching as she clicked the sheath back to her forearm and placed the dagger gently inside of it.

Takigawa found himself shaking his head again as he backed away from her door, pausing for a moment to look back at Mai. "By the way, we've got a hit." Takigawa said as an afterthought. "Rest up."


	5. Chapter 5: Narcissist

_****__Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt; all rights go to their respective owners. _

* * *

_In and out Mai. _The girl tried to remind herself, closing her eyes tightly as the horribly familiar smell of horses touched her nostrils. _Just breathe. _When Mai decided that her heart had stopped racing she opened her eyes slowly, peering at the old mare that had sat quietly in her stall until Mai had finished her small panic attack.

"You aren't too bad." Mai mumbled from a safe distance of nine feet. She made no move to get closer to the black mare, nor did the black mare make a move to get closer to Mai.

"Gray, why are you glaring Archie down?" John asked, coming up behind her and sending her flying a good three feet into the air.

"I don't trust it." Mai grumbled, trying hard not to place her hand over her heart in what she believed to be a very feminine gesture. "What are you doing here? I thought you had yard-work chores."

Mai recalled the conversation with Takigawa yesterday with minor annoyance. After he'd left her room last night informing her of a hit she'd slipped down some of the horribly bitter plants and hurried after Takigawa, requesting that he explained all about the hit he'd mentioned.

Takigawa had refused. Insisting Mai get a 'good night's rest' before they talked about it. And Mai had complied obediently with her mentor, only to be told this morning that until all three of his advanced students finished their chores for the day he would not release any information about the hit.

Mai had never wanted to stab someone so bad. But she figured that killing her mentor wasn't an acceptable reaction, so instead she'd gritted her teeth and stalked out of the studio. It wasn't until she reached the stables that she realized that she didn't know exactly what she was supposed to do when she got up here.

"Takigawa told me I was to help you with your chores today." John smiled, reaching out and stroking the mare that had suspiciously decided that she wanted human contact. "However you ran out so fast I couldn't catch up."

Mai knew that was a lie, she doubted she could outrun a trained assassin. John had obviously decided to linger back and judge Mai's temper, only once he'd decided her save to approach did he make his presence known.

"So what are my chores?" Mai asked, shifting her body so that she was even further away from the mare.

"Just generally care of the two horses assigned to you." John said. "Cleaning stalls, feeding, water, and grooming."

"Two horses?" Mai asked, peering into the black horse's stall as best as she could. Although since she refused to get any closer she could barely make out half of the stall. "I don't see another horse."

"Horses are normally stalled separately." John grinned, gesturing to the stall beside the mare's. "Echo will be your second horse."

Eyeing John warily Mai took a step towards the stall he gestured at, only to be met head on with a large white horse.

Mai flew back to her side of the stables, glaring at the newest horse with distrust clearly displayed on her features. "No." she said flatly.

"Echo is harmless." John said, rubbing the white horse's head softly.

Mai watched silently as the John rubbed his hands all over Echo's face, and Echo for his part did not once shy away from his touch.

"Echo's blind." John said after a moment. Waving his hand in front of Echo's eyes, eyes that didn't blink when the hand was near enough to cause a reaction from anything else. "He's a very trusting horse because of that. He knows he has to rely on people for things like food and water, so he's always willing to do what he's asked. However sometimes he can be more skittish than horses like Archie."

"How long as he been blind?" Mai questioned, deciding against her better judgment to approach the horse.

"We aren't sure." John admitted, picking up Echo's white forelock so that he should rub the horse's forehead. "He's only about six years old, and Takigawa bought him almost three years ago. He was already blind when he arrived, and Takigawa believes he was born blind or lost his sight when he was very young, probably under a year old."

Mai took in this information as she studied the horse. Now that John had mentioned it, Echo's eyes had a certain glaze that she hadn't seen in Archie's. But other than that he didn't look blind, his eyes didn't have the clouded film that normally went with blindness, instead blue eyes looked around calmly, as if they were taking in all of the world's beauty.

Suddenly Mai felt a fondness for the blind white horse. She wasn't exactly keen on working with horses, she'd had far too many bad experiences with her father's young mare to fully trust Echo, but if she had to work with horses she guess Echo was a good match for her.

"Let's get started." Mai said, glancing over at John.

"He grows on you doesn't he?" John grinned, noticing the shift in emotions from the young man beside him.

John had figured this would happened, it wasn't often someone could dislike Echo. Even if they hated the entire horse species, no one could hate Echo. Simply because Echo was a cross between an oversized puppy and a wise old soul. Loving him wasn't an option in John's option, an opinion made firmer as he watched Gray stretched his arms out to the gelding.

"Alright."

Two hours later Mai and John walked back into the studio, smelling strongly of horses and hay. Already seated were Yasuhara and Takigawa.

"You guys sure took your time." Takigawa scolded playfully, nodding for both students to take a seat.

With a relieved sigh Mai plumped down ungracefully into one of the seats, giving Takigawa a bright smile as she did so. "So the hit?"

"Our client is Lord Oliver Davis." Takigawa said slowly, glancing at all his advanced students carefully.

Mai pretended not to see the way John sunk down into his chair and the gleam in Yasuhara's eyes when they heard the name.

"We need a distraction." Takigawa mumbled.

"A distraction?" Mai said, scrunching up her face in confusion. "What does that have to do with the hit?"

"Lord Davis doesn't like messes." Yasuhara said, glancing around the studio.

Mai winced slightly as she did the same, just now taking in the scattered paint and brushes that laid around the room.

"We've been trying to finish commissions from other clients." Takigawa explained, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess we kind of forgot to clean up as we went."

_Kind of? _Mai wondered. _This place looks like a tornado struck it, twice. _

Takigawa eyed his students carefully. As far as distractions went John was out, Takigawa was surprised John hadn't bolted the moment the word distraction left his mouth after the last incident. As for Yasuhara he had a questionable past with Lord Davis, and Takigawa wasn't feeling quite brave enough to leave Yasuhara alone with a client today.

That left Mai, his cross-dressing assassin in training. Lord Davis had a rather limited experience with women, so he probably wouldn't pick up on anything weird if Mai happened to slip up. Plus Mai had been doing an overall good job of pretending to be a man. The risk was relatively low, and she was by far the best choice he had at the moment.

With a small smile Takigawa looked over at Mai. "Gray, come here."

* * *

Mai wasn't sure how she ended up standing outside of the main house waiting patiently for the client. But since they had been direct orders from Takigawa, she guessed she didn't have a choice.

_Honestly, why didn't Takigawa clean the studio yesterday? _Mai wondered as she saw a carriage began its way up the stone path. _At the very least he should be the one greeting his client. I would have been perfectly fine cleaning the studio with Yasuhara and John. _

The reason she wasn't cleaning the studio was because after the events that had occurred yesterday Takigawa didn't trust Mai and Yasuhara to be in a room alone together. And apparently Yasuhara and the client had a reasonably shady past, and since John had pretty much disappeared at the mention of someone distracting the client that left Mai to play decoy.

Finally after what felt like hours to Mai the carriage pulled up in front of her.

"Hello." Mai said politely when the carriage door opened.

The man that stepped out was nothing  
short of beautiful. The combination of fair skin mixed with raven hair gave him an odd but desirable appearance. But that wasn't what caught Mai's attention; his most defining feature was his deep cobalt eyes. She had never imagined anyone could have such a striking color of blue eyes. They almost seemed unnatural.

Mai was surprised to see the carriage door open again, this time revealing a tall man. His black hair was swiped to one side of his face, covering his left eye. Mai glanced up at the man's face, wincing slightly when she saw he was giving her a cold hard glare.

"Hello." A soft warm voice replied, a smile resting on the young man's lips. "My name is Oliver Davis; I'm here to see Master Takigawa."

"Uh." Mai was suddenly having a very hard time forming an intelligent thought. Her eyes seemingly caught by the young man's. Desperately she tried to regain control of her mind. _His eyes, they aren't smiling. _Mai realized, quickly grabbing on to the odd notion to pull herself back from the man's eyes.

The man lifted a single eyebrow at Mai. "Are you done gawking yet?"

"Forgive me sir. I've never seen eyes that color before." Mai grumbled.

"Are you planning on taking us to see Takigawa?" The young man asked politely, cocking his head mockingly.

Mai bit back a retort, deciding that it wasn't worth getting in trouble with Takigawa for a few minutes of satisfaction. _No wondering John and Yasuhara didn't want to play decoy. This guy is a complete jerk. It doesn't matter if he is gorgeous, his personality sucks. _

"Follow me." Mai replied shortly. Takigawa said that he needed to give her at least ten minutes to clean the studio, which at the time seemed like an easy task. However upon meeting their client Mai decided that Takigawa was going to have to make do with six minutes. Any longer with these two and she was going to snap.

"Takigawa might want to spend less time hiding from his wife and more time teaching his servants manners." Oliver stated as they made their way towards the studio.

Mai spun on her heel and fixed the young man with a sharp glare. "I am not a servant. I _am_ Takigawa's apprentice. I've _kindly _agreed to escort you and your guest to Takigawa's studio as a favor for him."

Mai resumed her path even more quickly than before.

"Gray." Takigawa said dully when he saw her storm into the studio. Trailing behind her the two men entered. "Lord Davis, Lin a pleasure to see you."

"I'm going to finish my work." Mai grumbled, grabbing a few paintbrushes before she sat herself down. Throwing another glare at Oliver before redirecting her attention to her work.

"I see you've met my newest apprentice." Takigawa tried to keep the amusement out of his voice. For someone as kind as Mai was, she seemed to be conflicting with just about everyone. "One day he might be working for you, so you should go easy on him."

"You're the best." Oliver stated.

"Times change." Takigawa said with a smile. "I'm the best today, but who's to say I'll be the best tomorrow?"

"We're wasting time." Oliver said shortly, gracefully sitting down in one of the nearby chairs.

"Of course Lord Davis." Takigawa sighed, beckoning his three students with a wave of his hand. "What can we do for you?"

"Axel Wilhelm. Male. Age 37. Married to Hannah Wilhelm. No children. Leader of the nitrous gang Raiders." Oliver said, giving Takigawa a small file. "The rest of the information is in there."

Takigawa's eyes scanned the file before glancing back up at Oliver. "And he's missing. It's hard to kill someone when they've been gone for," Takigawa paused, searching for the bit of information. "_Four years?_"

"He's been spotted recently." Oliver informed him. "Which you would know if you finished reading the file."

"Of course." Takigawa said. "Yasuhara can you find anything out on Axel Wilhelm?"

"Give me the rest of today." Yasuhara replied.

"Get to it." Takigawa said, turning to John. "Finish going through this file. Anything sticks out tell Yasuhara, I expect a full report by tonight."

"We're on a strict schedule." Oliver interrupted. "I need Mr. Axel dealt with by the end of the week."

Takigawa paused to look at Oliver. "You want a missing man dead within the week? There's no guarantee we'll be able to even find this guy."

"You're the best at what you do." Oliver smirked. "Come by tomorrow before you leave, we've got a few more things that Technology finished."

"Of course Lord Davis." Mai could see the anger flare up in Takigawa's eyes as he responded to Oliver. "Gray, would you please see Lord Davis and Lin back to their carriage."

"That's not necessary." Oliver said. "We'll see you tomorrow. Lin."

Mai watched as Oliver and Lin made their way out of the studio.

John and Yasuhara must have been used to Takigawa's outburst since neither one of them stirred when he started ranting about 'out-of-touch nobles who didn't care if they inconvenienced people who actually worked for a living'. Mai's eyes followed Takigawa's movements warily until he finally stormed out of the studio, still mumbling insults.

"Why is Takigawa so upset?" Mai questioned, glancing over at Yasuhara and John, both of which were staring at the file Takigawa left behind. "A week seems like a long enough time to finish a hit. Just get in there, find the guy and kill him, right?"

"Spoken like a true novice." Yasuhara laughed. "It's not like we can just ride off and kill someone. We've got to collect information which is normally a good two days if not more. Then we have to pack the correct equipment. From weapons to paint brushes we have to have them all, that can take a good six hours to a day. After that we have to come up with a cover and put it into effect. On top of that we have to find a base to stay at while we're on a mission and then it's more research. We have to learn our target's schedule in and out, and that's normally a good three days before we can come up with an accurate conclusion. Then the actually killing can take up to four days depending on when we get the chance. And to top that off we've still got other jobs and commissions to complete. Basically we're screwed."

"Why doesn't Takigawa just say no to him?" Mai grumbled, annoyed at being called a novice.

"Because Lord Davis is the next heir to a very large very important company. His Technology department is decades ahead of the time and because Monk has strong business ties with the older Lord Davis he gets the equipment first and at a reasonable price. Since the majority of our job is research and knowing our target's every single movement the things the Lord Davis provides us is very valuable. Unfortunately that means we can't turn down any request from Lord Davis. We just have to grit our teeth and bare it." Yasuhara explained, pulling a few sheets from the file. "I'll be gone most of today but I'll be back by tonight. We'll probably have to leave tomorrow if we want a chance to finish this hit on time."

"The last sighting of this guy was in Alexon." John informed Yasuhara. "But that was a week ago, I doubt someone that's been missing for four years stays in once place for more than a few days."

"Don't underestimate me." Yasuhara called before walking out of the studio.

"So what do you want me to do?" Mai asked, looking over at the only person left.

John looked over at Mai before offering her an apologetic smile. "I'm not sure. If you work on your painting for a little bit I'm sure Takigawa will return when he cools off a bit."

"Takigawa must really dislike Oliver." Mai sighed, picking up her brush.

"Takigawa is actually pretty fond of Lord Davis." John corrected. "Lord Davis just makes unreasonable demands sometimes, which causes Takigawa to get a little angry."

_A little? Yeah right I've never seen Takigawa storm out of a room so quickly. _Mai snorted.

By the time Yasuhara returned to the studio six hours later Mai was feeling brain dead. She'd completed her painting two hours ago, however since Takigawa hadn't returned and John was still going through the file for what seemed to be the hundredth time Mai was left to her own devices. And since she really didn't want to go to the Pit by herself, nor did she feel like exploring the estate she found herself sitting at her desk watching her painting dry.

"We've got trouble, is Takigawa back yet?" Yasuhara asked, dumping a pile of papers on his desk.

"He hasn't been back to the studio in," John glanced up at the clock, a small expression of shock settling over his face. "Seven hours. Do you want me to find him? I'm sure he's somewhere inside the mansion."

"I'll go!" Mai piped up, not bothering to hide the desperate note in her voice. She really didn't feel like sitting still for another hour while John looked for Takigawa.

"Okay." Yasuhara agreed. "John and I can go over the information we've found."

Mai suppressed a squeal of joy as she bounced out of the studio. The walk to the mansion wasn't long, but it felt nice to get outside and stretch her legs. Mentally Mai noted that perhaps she needed to start spending more time outside. When she lived with her father they did a lot of work outside and she'd always enjoyed it almost as much as she enjoyed the lessons on weapons he'd given her. But since she'd come to Takigawa's the only real work she'd done outside was up at the stables. Everything else had been inside, evening training.

"Gray?" a voice called right as Mai reached the main door to the mansion.

Mai turned around slightly to see Ayako standing a few feet away from her. "Lady Ayako. I'm sorry I don't mean to intrude. Yasuhara has a problem with an h," Mai clamped down immediately, realizing just in time what she was about to say to Ayako. "Yasuhara is having trouble with a commission so I was set off to go find Takigawa. We'd figured he'd be inside the mansion."

Ayako pursed her lips for a moment. "He left you guys in the studio alone?"

"We met with a client today and Takigawa got a little riled up." Mai explained with a small shrug.

"Lord Davis?" Ayako asked knowingly.

"How'd you know?" Mai asked, a small smile playing on her lips. Mai had a feeling that this wasn't the first time Oliver Davis had made Takigawa upset.

"Lord Davis has a way of making Takigawa angry." Ayako said, confirming what Mai had already figured. "I think Lord Davis can get just about anyone riled up, but you'll never catch him arguing back. According to him he's _above_ that." Ayako finished with a smirk.

"What a narcissist." Mai laughed.

"Although he is pretty cute." Ayako said thoughtfully. "Let's go check Takigawa's study. I doubt that he'd in there, but it's worth a shot."

Mai recovered quickly from the small shock of Ayako calling Lord Davis cute and focused on following Ayako through the mansion. Though everything in the mansion appeared to be the same, Mai couldn't help but feel like it looked even more beautiful. However this time she didn't have nearly as much time to admiring it, since Ayako was already several strides ahead of Mai with no signs of slowing down.

"Takigawa!" Ayako called, stopping outside of a large door to the right of the main hall. "I'm coming in!"

Ayako barely paused for a second before she opened the door, locking eyes with Takigawa who had propped himself up on a chair and appeared to have just woken up from a nap.

"Your students are looking for you." Ayako snapped, placing a hand on her hip. "Don't you think you should be in the studio helping them?"

"They're my advanced students, if they can't complete a few commissions by themselves then perhaps they shouldn't be called advance." Takigawa replied lazily. "Which one came looking for me? John?"

"Nope, that would be me." Mai said, stepping into the room with a small wave. "We've got an issue with the commission for Lord Davis."

Takigawa let out a low sigh. "Nothing ever goes smoothly around here. Well come on."

Takigawa stood up lazily, walking past Ayako without so much as a glance in her direction. Mai watched as water filled Ayako's eyes before she blinked and the tears disappeared.

"Thank you for your help Lady Ayako!" Mai called, offering the older lady a smile before following Takigawa out of the mansion.

As Mai followed Takigawa she realized that she preferred walking outside by herself. Although Takigawa's appearance seemed relax, she could feel a steady hum of energy radiating off of him that suggested he was anything but calm.

"What is it?" Takigawa snapped as he walked into the studio.

Yasuhara and John jerked their heads up, studying their mentor silently. "Have you ever heard of an Organization called The Company?" Yasuhara asked.

Takigawa tensed at the name, sending a sharp glare at Yasuhara. "What about The Company?"

"Axel Wilhelm is or was a member of The Company. It's unclear if he still works for it. I tried to do a little informational seeking about it. It's weird, they aren't a secret organization because everyone I spoke to knew something about them, but no one knows exactly who they are or what they do. Even the stuff relating to Axel is hidden, but from what I can tell he was a pretty high ranking member. Or is. He could still be a part of The Company and that's why he's on the run."

"Damn it." Takigawa cursed, running his hand through his hair.

"So I take it you know what The Company is?" Yasuhara asked.

"Not much." Takigawa admitted. "But I know from a few of my connections in the assassin world that The Company targets assassins."

"Targets?" Mai asked, glancing over at Takigawa. "Like, they kill assassins?"

"That would be correct." Takigawa said. "They've taken out two of the top assassins in less than six months."

"Are they the reason we have this whole art cover up?" Mai asked, cocking her head to the side.

"They are part of the reason." Takigawa answered. "Gray, looks like you'll be coming along on this hit as well."

"What?" Yasuhara and John asked in disbelief. "He's been here a week and you're already taking him on a hit?"

"I don't have a choice." Takigawa snapped. "The three of us won't be able to do it alone, and I'm sure Lord Davis and his bodyguard are going to tag along to help with informational gathering, but I need more people to help with the actual kill. So I'm left with three choices, I can take a beginner with us who barely knows how to hold a knife. I can take an intermediate student that at least knows how to hold a knife, but their stealth and knife throwing skills are non-existed or I can take Gray. He doesn't have a lot of training here but he's obviously been trained somewhere. He can throw a knife easily and hasn't missed a target yet and I'm sure he can be stealthy if he tries. So, out of those three which one do you guys want to have watching your back? Because if they don't do their job, you two will be the ones killed."

_I didn't realize they weren't going to take me. _Mai thought bitterly, but deciding not to say anything. There was no reason to get them upset and risk being removed from hit.

Takigawa didn't wait for their respond before turning to Mai. "Meet me in the Pit; we're going to run a quick training match. John and Yasuhara start packing up."

Before anyone could respond to Takigawa's commands he had already opened up the door leading to the Pit and disappeared within its depths.

"Let's get started John." Yasuhara said, standing up from his desk.

Mai got the feeling Yasuhara had just dismissed her, but she didn't really feeling like starting an argument with him. She'd forgotten to take the pain plants Takigawa had given her and for the first time today she was really starting to feel the throb in her ribs.

"Here." John smiled; handing Mai a small sliver key similar to the one Takigawa had given Yasuhara to open the Pit door. "The door to the Pit locks automatically, and I'm sure Takigawa hasn't gotten around to the key smith yet to get you a key."

Mai grinned at John. "Thank you."

Mai watched as John and Yasuhara walk out of the studio before turning to one the hidden door of the Pit. After several minutes of struggling with the door she finally managed to unlock it and push the shelf aside. With an annoyed huff she stepped down to the first floor, closing the door firmly behind her.

Mai moved slowly down the flight of stairs, unwilling to go any faster for fear of upsetting her already aching ribs. When Mai made it down to the Pit she saw Takigawa standing in the middle of a pile of knives of all shapes and sizes. Mai approached Takigawa warily, her eyes flickering between Takigawa and the knives.

"Give me your weapon's pouch." Takigawa ordered.

Mai's hand instantly flew to her hidden pouch, a glare settling across her face. "No."

"Work with me here, Gray." Takigawa said. "You aren't going to leave here weaponless, but carrying a weapon's pouch carries too much of a risk. You've done a decent enough job hiding it, but if someone were to see it on accident it would raise some suspicions."

"Fine." Mai mumbled, reaching under her hoodie and unhooking the clasp that secured the weapon's pouch to her waist. Reluctantly she handed over her pouch.

"Thank you." Takigawa said, tipping the pouch upside down and allowing the knives inside to fall to the ground. "There are fifty three knives lying on the ground in front of you. I want you to strap each and every knife down to you so that no one can see them."

"That isn't possible." Mai replied flatly.

"It is. I had Yasuhara calculate the maximum number of knives you can carry on your body without affecting the speed in which you can move." Takigawa replied, leaning against the wall. "Better get started."

Mai looked at Takigawa skeptically. Takigawa held her gaze evenly waiting until she finally submitted and started picking up various knives.

_I'm not even sure where to begin. _Mai admitted to herself, rubbing her fingers across one of the smaller blades. Mai repressed a sigh as she began sorting through the knives, picking out the smaller knives to strap to her arms and legs and leaving the larger knives to strap to her midsection. She was delighted to find the knives that Takigawa had picked weren't large, with the smallest being only three inches from the tip of the blade to the bottom of the handle and the largest being just under seven inches from blade to handle.

For a few minutes she tried strapping the knives on without taking off her hoodie, but after a while she realized that it wasn't possible. Quickly she pulled off her hoodie, tossing it to the side before she started picking up a variety of smaller knives. She wrapped knives over every part of her body she could, and only once she was satisfied with how the weapons were lying on her body did she pull her hoodie back on.

"Let's spar." Takigawa ordered, pulling his own knife down from the wall.

Mai nodded quickly as she started walking towards the arena, pausing suddenly when one of the knives started digging into her skin painfully.

"You'll have to learn how to walk with the knives strapped to you." Takigawa said when he saw Mai wince. "Adjust your stance."

Mai complied immediately, only to feel a different knife stab her waist. Once again she winced, placing a hand over the newly injured spot and sending a quick glance over at Takigawa.

She pretended not to see him roll his eyes as he approached her.

"Gray, _think_ before you move." Takigawa scolded lightly.

He'd never admit it himself, but over the past couple of days Takigawa couldn't help but grow a fondness for his feisty young apprentice. Her personality differed greatly from John, who was honest almost to a fault and normally preferred to avoid any type of confrontation. And she was even more different from Yasuhara, who never completed anything without an ulterior motive that benefited him in some way or another. Mai was honest, but she was also the first to grab a knife and hurl it at people. She was an interesting person to have around, her emotions switching to utterly defiant to completely lost and looking for help in a matter of seconds.

At the moment she was currently looking at Takigawa with pleading eyes, unwilling to move for fear of stabbing herself with a knife once again.

"If you have a knife strapped to your legs and thighs, than you'll need to keep your legs stiff and further apart. If you have knives strapped to your arms they should also be kept stiff." Takigawa said, taking her arm and tugging it down so it didn't bend. Takigawa felt Mai stiffen under his touch, her normally relaxed muscles now tense. "Maybe stiff wasn't the right word." Takigawa said after a moment. "You still want your appearance to look relaxed and at ease. Perhaps a better word would be straight, keep your arms straight, but make it look natural."

Takigawa took a step away from Mai, watching as she attempted differing positions to try and look natural while keeping her arms straight. After ten minutes Mai finally seemed to figure out a reasonably comfortable position; however Takigawa noted that the knife strapped closest to her armpits still seemed to poke her from time to time. Takigawa new that was an easily fixable problem, but decided that since it didn't seem to cause her too much pain he'd allow her to figure out that part by herself.

"Are you ready to spar?" Takigawa questioned, casually turning his knife in the palm of his hand.

Rarely did Takigawa ever spar with his students; he found it better to make them spar with each other. Not only did it help to hone two people's skills, and also kept him from having to keep sweaty and most importantly it kept him from getting harmed. He knew the chances of most of his other students landing a hit on him were relatively low, but he was sure that all three of his advanced students could probably land a blow if not two on him before the sparring match was over. And Takigawa was not the type of person to place himself in harm's way unnecessary when he had plenty of beginners eager to be used as punching bags. However since he was running low on beginners and intermediate students at the moment, he had no choice but to spar with Mai. He couldn't exactly allow her to go on a mission without a few more skills to fall back onto.

Mentally Takigawa made a note not to allow two groups of students to take a week break off of practicing at the same time.

"Ready." Mai chirped from inside the sparring arena, having already ducked inside while Takigawa rambled away in his own world.

"Begin."

* * *

**A/N: I am so sorry, my life just got insanely busy and I couldn't find any time to write. By next chapter the group will be going on a mission (which should in theory pick up the pace of the story) I'm sorry this chapter was another boring one, but this should be the last REALLY boring chapter. So just hang in there. I'm sorry for disappearing so suddenly, but I should be able to start posting normally again. **

**Also, for those of you who read my other Ghost Hunt fanfiction: The Entwined Name I will be posting another chapter in the next few days. So look for it. **

**As always please review. **


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